For anyone who's been following my saga, the vet has advised us repeatedly to convert our budgies to pellets. I understand the debate and since I am really no expert and have nothing left to try, I have reluctantly begun. I put it off until after the birds were settled back into our house after our holiday.

 

I feel completely horrible! I feel like I'm starving the poor things. I have been following the recommendation -- to put pellets in their seed dishes, a small amount of seed elsewhere in the cage, and plenty of fresh veggies. So far it's okay -they haven't lost weight, and their droppings still seem okay. But it has been two days and they haven't eaten the pellets. I am just really doubtful that they ever will but I have to keep trying. Has anyone ever seen this done successfully? I'm just after a ray of hope here!

 

I guess this thread is not a question as such, more just seeking for some support! I would appreciate any encouragement that they will eventually come around or tips for making it more successful, I have read up a lot of what is on here but I think my budgies seem especially stuck in their ways unfortunately.

Wish I could help but you most likely know how I feel about pellets :rofl: In saying this, our budgies are enjoying the rabbit and guinea pig pellets with their seed, when they wont touch budgie pellets

I have been through this on vet's advice, too with budgies and cockatiels. I don't know which pellets you are using, but I have found that they never accept the multi-coloured ones.

I began with one cockatiel and one 2 year old budgie. It took the budgie 6 months to convert. When he got a mate, she just copied him and ate the pellets. I have gotten 6 seed-eating budgies within the past 2 months. Four are this season's chicks, one a year old and one is 2 years old. From the day they arrived, I put a small quantity of pellets in their seed dish. They did not eat them but it got them used to the sight and smell of them. Once they were all out of quarantine, the 6 new budgies all went into a cage together. Once they were settled, I put out a smaller amount of seed and a dish of pellets plus vegies etc. I refilled nothing. On the very first day I let them run out of food, they started eating the pellets. Now, I leave only pellets over night so they eat them in the morning. I am still giving them half a teaspoon each of seeds per day. They are getting to realise that it arrives in the morning and then there is no more. They have stopped hanging around the seed dish in the afternoon. At the afternoon feed time, I remove the seed dish and leave other new stuff. They eat everything else and leave the pellets to last. BUT they do eat them.

I think you cannot really expect them to convert quickly. It does take some time.

I better add something to this as the thread just reminded me of a promise I made in the great Guinea Pig pellet debate thread! In that thread I explained how I would take a small group of my budgies and for 3 months replace their dry seed with small bird pellets and promised to report back here the findings, good, bad or indifferent. The birds were all under 6 months and had been eating pellets as part of their diet since being weaned with the exception of a 5 year old cock also in the group. All of my birds had been consuming bird pellets as a supplement to their dry and sprouted seed diet so by time I switched out their seed the change of diet should have been fairly straightforward. Most bird pellets are marketed as a complete diet so I had no concerns that the birds diet would be deficient in any way.

 

Anyway what I found was that for the first few days that, although they were eating plenty of the pellets I also got the impression they were hanging out for the sprouted seed which arrived each morning. At this point I stopped giving them the sprouted seed as well and placed them on a diet solely of pellets. This continued for the next 2 weeks at which point I ceased the trial and put them back on the same varied diet that the rest of my birds had been receiving.

 

So, why did I stop the pellet feeding trial? Here's my explanation:

Even though they had been eating plenty of pellets I observed that most (not all) of the birds still had a "hungry look" about them. They weren't hovering around the feed bowl but they just looked like they needed a good feed. Strangely the 5 year old cock wasn't one of these. None of the birds appeared sick and none needed any medications. But after 3 weeks into the trial I decided to stop and revert to their original diet. Within days they were looking "normal" again. Had I continued with the trial they may have settled and looked more content but I wasn't happy with the way they were going so I pulled the pin. I have heard of budgie breeders who feed no seed but just pellets. Maybe one of you reading does this. In the end I decided it was not for me at this time.

 

I'm still feeding the pellets as part of a varied diet. All the birds eat them, even the ones that went through the trial. In fact they eat plenty of them! But for now I'll stick to providing both seed and pellets, not just one. That's what the birds told me they want

 

Krosp, they will take a while to decide they like your pellets. To speed up the process you could try adding some to their favourite soft food. Mine particularly like the pellets added to grated carrot. Eventually they should begin to eat some. I wouldn't stress about trying to get them solely on the pellets. I think you'll find it mentioned on this forum quite often, variety is what the diet is all about.

Thanks guys for your quick replies. Thanks Catherine for giving me some hope that they would eventually. What happened with the budgie that took 6 months to eat them- was it only having a small amount of seeds each day for 6 months?

 

Darryl I agree with you that when I finally get my birds onto pellets it won't be their complete diet. But I figure that I need to wean them onto pellets first if they are to ever even eat them at all, and then once they are accepting of them, I can balance it out with seeds again. Otherwise they're just going to only ever eat the seeds and ignore the pellets.

 

Day 3 and they haven't lost much weight (maybe about a gram each) but they do have that "hungry" look Darryl was talking about! They're just more active and mouthing everything as though they're looking for something to eat. But I just refilled their seed and veggies and they haven't touched it yet so they're a bit strange.

Can I ask why convert to pellets , Is it cheaper!!

It's not cheaper, but I only have two budgies so I am not concerned about the cost really.

 

One of my budgies is obese and has a lot of fatty tumours, that is why the vet recommends pellets (although they recommend it to all budgies anyway). It is supposed to be a more balanced diet. Some people think it is the equivalent of humans living off a multivitamin (ie complete nutritionally but completely unpleasant to eat). I would like to get them eating it so there is an easy source of nutrients and then feed them seeds as well. I am feeding them veggies throughout the whole transition.

Can I ask why convert to pellets , Is it cheaper!!

 

 

NO WAY !! Its a "BLURB" the vets all spout off these days.......fast becoming an URBAN LEGEND

Thanks guys for your quick replies. Thanks Catherine for giving me some hope that they would eventually. What happened with the budgie that took 6 months to eat them- was it only having a small amount of seeds each day for 6 months?

 

 

I gave him seeds the whole time but very gradually reduced them. One day, he just started eating the pellets. He still gets a few dry seeds or sprouted seeds every day. But he has to come to my hand to get them. Interestingly, the hen he lives with, and who went straight onto pellets, is fat as butter. The vet spoke to me about her rotten diet. I told him she gets what her mate does. She gets fewer seeds than he does because she won't come to me. I just give her some to eat while he is with me.They are both very keen on vegies.

Looks to me like the vets are making a $ from the pellets ,

If your birds are getting fat in a small cage , feed them a Millet mix only , No Canary seed.

Looks to me like the vets are making a $ from the pellets ,

If your birds are getting fat in a small cage , feed them a Millet mix only , No Canary seed.

 

can a seed diet consisting of millet mainly cause thin birds ???

palaniam seed and millet is the main seed in my birds diet

i use a mix of half budgie seed mix (a club mix ) consists of millit white and canery seed very small amount of hulled otes and i think thats it im not sure i have asked whats in it but no real reply

its got no label so , but i 20 kilo of finch mix to 20 kilo of budgies mix the finch mix is mainly palaniam seeds, black millets, white millets and black canary seed wheat seeds and a few others im not sure of but their relished

 

is their such a thing as not enough of one or the other seeds

can anyone state a good mix of necessary seeds for a all year round diet

dont worry about adding hulled otes as i do that when winter comes and to breeders when chicks hatch

can any one name the seeds and their nutritional reasons eg vitamins they supply to our birds

thanks gb

It is supposed to be a more balanced diet. Some people think it is the equivalent of humans living off a multivitamin (ie complete nutritionally but completely unpleasant to eat). I would like to get them eating it so there is an easy source of nutrients and then feed them seeds as well. I am feeding them veggies throughout the whole transition.

 

You hit it on the nail BALANCED, I believe a little bit of everything is good for your budgie (s). In the FAQ we do have a ratio of how much seed, pellets, veggies etc...that is recommended for a bird to eat on a daily basis. We could go on with the debate is pellet better or seed but that doesn't really solve your problem of obsesity.

 

Your budgie is obese not because of the seed but most likely because it has an over flow of seed and not enough flight time.

 

I don't over flow Merlin's seed, I give him 2 tablespoons a day of seed with his veggies that he eats, I don't do pellets my vet was on me about it too, I tried he never ate them I gave up I am sure I could have forced him, I even grounded them up and put them on his veggies.

 

Fatty tumors are related to obesity but they are also genetic from what I have read. Obesity in budgies I am sure is just like humans it can be genetic. So if you have 1 that is obese and one that is not this 1 budgie is probably eats more (maybe) and may be prone to obesity. In that case get your budgies on a measured feeding along with exercise.

 

As for vets making money on pellet I doubt it you can buy them at the pet food stores unless you are getting the more specialized pellets so to speak and that is just like prescription dog or cat food they don't make much off retail they make more off their clients and all the testings that they ordered.

Thanks Elly. That makes sense - he does eat way too much seed. So I guess even this change I've made with having less seed for them is a good change even though they aren't eating the pellets. Thanks for the encouragement, I guess worst case scenario they never eat the pellets I can just try and bring the proportion of seed much lower down from now on.

 

 

They are not in a small cage, but yes - he is not much of a flier, but it's chicken and egg because he's too fat to fly which is why he stays fat

Thanks Elly. That makes sense - he does eat way too much seed. So I guess even this change I've made with having less seed for them is a good change even though they aren't eating the pellets. Thanks for the encouragement, I guess worst case scenario they never eat the pellets I can just try and bring the proportion of seed much lower down from now on.

 

 

They are not in a small cage, but yes - he is not much of a flier, but it's chicken and egg because he's too fat to fly which is why he stays fat

 

 

I hate pellets... so won't go there.

 

Getting him to exercise, will he 'play' with you? Chase things if you pull them around? You could try and set up an area, table/bed and get him running/waddling around? Any movement will help him. Also had a thought re food. I know my birds used to eat when I ate, if this is the case with your boys, maybe remove their seed during your meal times, so they eat their greens instead.

As for vets making money on pellet I doubt it you can buy them at the pet food stores unless you are getting the more specialized pellets so to speak and that is just like prescription dog or cat food they don't make much off retail they make more off their clients and all the testings that they ordered.

 

The various pet stores have a whole range of pellets. I live a long way from the vet and so get my pellets at pet stores. I think most people would just get them from where it is most convenient.

maesie.. he isn't very frisky unfortunately but we can try and get him exercising. He will hop from finger to finger at least. I think I will totally grow his wings out now too, they're usually half there which is enough for Piccolo to fly but Cosmo is so heavy that he can't go too far.

Hi

 

I've been reading information on the Vetafarm website, and I came across this article

 

http://www.vetafarm.com.au/pages/Convertin...-to-Pellet.html

 

Thought it might be useful information to go with all the feedback you've gotten here

Thanks Amy. Maybe I will try that - the pellets seem to me like they would be a lot harder to eat than the seed... they might have had a go and just found it too hard to break, or noticed that it didn't have the same shape/texture as seeds and just ignored it. I had thought about doing something like this but wasn't sure so I will think about doing that some time in the next few days.

 

They are still both doing fine - not eating the pellets, but not losing weight anymore, they both gradually lost 3 grams and have now plateaued for a few days. They still eat their small handful of seed and plenty of veggies every day.

Woohoo - it is working!!! They are eating the pellet/seed sludge!

Hi 5 for persistence!! That's great news, well done!

Thanks for the link you gave Amy.. it is a much better technique than the one the vet had me doing

I think I will try this method for my hen Sorcha, who has the fatty liver. She won't eat the veggies, and so she's still mostly on a seed diet.

Oh great! I hope it helps with the weight problem.

Hmmm... I still don't think they're eating the pellets, but at least they're digging around the pellet-covered seeds. I think adult budgies are so stuck in their ways they are very stubborn haha

Woohoo-- they are officially eating the pellets!!! Victory!! I will keep them on pellets only for maybe a week until they're very used to it and then reintroduce small amounts of seed and balance out the diet again with lots of variety.

 

Will let you guys know if we see any health improvements from this as the vets predicted